Creative Briefing | Plot Lines in Brand Storytelling

Could brand creativity be defined in a brief?
What is a creative brief—and is there a point to being brief?

No, not really. Succinct, compelling, reflective, authentic, scannable as a document of ongoing review.
But brief?

Brands are inordinately complicated orchestrations. Being that they inherently involve relationships to humans, the idea of “briefness” is a less than valuable proposition. Sensate wholeness and the sphere of emotionality are a full circle composition.

Instead, a “brief” should be as interesting as a story, enriched with depth and personality, the encircling string of strategy and market conditioning.

There is a phrase that I learned in Sweden, at a brand summit that I led in Köping, at Hästens. We talked about a patterning—a thread of experience—which I referred to as “a red thread of momentum,” the instances and touchpoints of a customer journey in process. They cried out—
“wait, we have a word for that, a phrase, we call it the same thing:
den röda tråden.”

The Red Thread
This phrasing spells out the idea of a threading of the narrative roll—unspooling literally—perceived from the contact from the website, the roadway vista, the shopfront, entry portal, reception, passage. You know that already, it’s the yarn, the knitted detailing.

The patterning makes sense—it’s seeable, sensate and touchable; the red thread could be sound, it could be a scent, a touch, a use of words—a loom of language—the weft of a distinct imagery—
or a deeper psychic metaphor, the thread that entwines.

Brands, being made by humans, have inherent qualities that attach to the human quality. Not saying that a brand is something that is entirely anthropomorphic, but rather that the relationships are the key point of enchantment and attractiveness. In the case of human brands, there are components that relate to the quality of that brand spirit—the human leadership—that will guide the characteristics of emotional connectedness. Brands, to survive, must flourish in their link to the personal connection. People are the fuel of the brand enterprise—they’re the engine that creates any brand, their passion ignites the proposition, and the very humaness of the brand’s relationship to their community.

And to the brief, the narrative telling, memorability, it’s about distinction, the onliness factor:
this brief applies to no other brand than your creative strategy. Here are some outtakes from a talk that I gave to an international brand team; they’d asked, “how do we write a creative brief?”

Stories unfold. Legends emerge. Beauty in enterprise and richness in commerce can be embellished
with robust layering of context.

Clients often ask—”can you write a creative brief on our brand pivot—where we’re going, our innovation, our next steps?”

There’s the need, during the present clime, for virtually every enterprise to consider how to newly frame its evocation—what is the new voice, and how does the vocation speak to community in a new way.

We’re doing this for virtually every relationship that we have.
Change. Pivot. Transit.

The Archetypal Question
When you meet someone for the first time,
the real question that pops into your
opening conversation might be—”what is your story?”

This is the foundation of the brief, an interior narrative.
Simply enough, the story is what is the carrying forth, it’s the relation.
And relationship is that, the distinction—the carrying and the embracement—to the layering of the story. The sequence lies in the nature of how we think about ourselves—how we recall our experiences in our lives—and, importantly, how we tell it.

This internal examination—what does this feel like, as a driver to strategy—is an important warp in the weaving of the creative brief.

The underlayment of story mind filters experience and the telling of construct in narrative—the mind relates to the memory in a string of stories—not in the layered sentiment of “facts.” This, lies in the nature of the story, the telling of a stringing of ideas. A red thread of the mnemonic gathering, woven up as a tapestry of experiences.

It might be presumed that—either inwardly, or outwardly—the layering of the story that originates in a human inspiration. Whether the strategy is to acknowledge the human connection: the foundation, the leadership, the family, the extended lineage, or to take that reach-out and invert it inwardly, either way, the links to the human bridge—and the hybrid nature of messaging and layering are critical.

Deny them, and the brand will vanish as a commodity. Precision, hand craft, technology, insights—it will be a reflective proposition—the brand reaches to the inward community of foundational leadership and its teams, or outward to community. That intermixing is the inherent influence, and confluence, of commerce.

Briefs can drive to answer these questions.

Finding the fire of passion brands

Kate Newlin, a friend, consultant, author and strategist has been writing about and examining the nature of the “passion brands.” We’ve called it—in referring to brand leadership as the passionate ones—people that have an inordinate capacity for the unbridled passion in founding the enterprise. They’re the dreamers. They “think different” in their commitment, focus and character of involved leadership. Like Guy Kawasaki’s evangelism, it is about the fevered community of a posse, ambassadors and brand storytellers—connection is rampant, even addictive.

Listening to some people at a Starbucks Coffeehouse, talking about their “bikes” was infectious, in the sharing and spreading of their love of their “Harleys.” It went on. I was impressed by their unceasing storytelling. One, to another, and another.

Creative briefs are informed—the who, the what, the where of their origination—by where you were once, and the why of the now, and the when of the future.

Finding passionate brand fire: good questions to answer

These foundational questions will drive the path to the rightful alignment, and the robust brief—it will start at the heart, and the soul, of the brand. That is—what is the message that comes from the center? That’s where life is—defining the life of the brand starting at the heart of the enterprise.

Building the personality of the brand expectation—performance:

The sweet and artful allusion of Mick Jagger and Andy Warhol—“simple, please”—is a poetic opening to the interpretation of the creative brief. And the real point, is the notion of personality and artfulness in articulating, potentially, the power and beauty of the creative foundations.
“Do whatever you want.”

In the detailing of structure, brand leadership
might position a creative brief as gathering
this sequence of questions:

• Sales focus
• Promise
• Equities
• Opportunities
• Essence
• Personality
• Values
• Benefits
• Attributes

But is that enough?

Structuring the line of queries for the exploration of innovation and transition—
it lies in supporting the values of what is held in the heart of the brand.
Overall, what assets are held—what values are shown?

And the legacy, what has
been built over time.

Balance that examination against the foundation of the strategic considerations —
what equity assets might be considered?

Examine:
Start at the top, go deeper.

According to the nature of the human propositions, and aligning this with business considerations—character relates to the string of performance and community.

Characterize:

These layers of examination move to how they ride out to action planning—if your brand, your story, stands for these series of attributes, can you build on them—defining what they mean for visualization? How to execute?

Studying the legacy of the brand from one tier to another—how to build strategies that bridge the inherent values and how they can be bridged to
allegories and attributes of functionality.

These speak to the layering of form, design, factoring of product, retail experiences, entertainment and finally performance and results.

The nature of psychic performance of brand
—defining how the mind works in relationship to brand storytelling.
What will be carried forth? Who is the ambassador?
Find soul.

I think in mapping, guidelines and channels—what you might
think of as the cartography of design strategy.
And, in defining the creative brief—an essay of expectations.

The questions I think about in building any brief:

WHERE ARE WE GOING, ANYWAY?

In the definition of creativity, brand strategy and the brief or essays of design tactical planning:

Think conversationally:
Building briefs are like conversations–
they need to be shared to be understood. It’s not email alone–a conversation enlivens.

Focus on intentionality:
Building briefs for new brands requires layers of intention–
the principles of the brand’s premise needs to be foundational, but could be expanded–for testing–to multiple tracks for exploratory.

Brands and the red thread:
Briefs are the “snapping line” for creative development and efficiency—a poorly written brief will waste time, dollars and fail in advancing to the right outcomes and positioning.

Expanding the circle of expressions in the rippling of the ideal:

RICH AND ROBUST
Great briefs have insights, stories, legends of heritage, or new ideations–research insights should be included.

CONCISE AND ARTICULATE
Writing needs to be precise, but artfully appropriate–the brief should begin to frame the attitude of the brand–where it’s been, where it’s going and what it shall be.

WHO / WHAT / WHY
The foundations are simple: who are we trying to captivate (and who are we trying to beat), what holistically are we saying – big picture, middle picture, smaller details, and most importantly, why should we be doing this offering?

SOME ADDED REQUISITES TO ACTION

THE CLIENT, THE CONTACT
Who’s driving this?

WHAT’S THE PROJECT?
Code name, brand extension, new sku?

BACKGROUNDER
What’s happening in the market? What’s driving this internally–team insights, leadership initiatives, pet project, failing market, cannibalizations, trend analyses?
“This is our product, this is what we’re trying to say, here’s who we are speaking to, and this is our recommendation for what we think this should be looking like”–attributes, assets, stylistic reference, etc.

WHAT’S GOING TO HAPPEN?

What’s the action: “creating greater market share (be specific—
define deliverables, market expectations, KPIs.)”

CLARIFY:
GEOGRAPHY?
DEMOGRAPHY?
RELATIONAL STRATEGY?

How could they interrelate?

Could place define people? Are we marketing place—locational characteristics, with a type of buyer; like Boulder, CO with outdoor gear, or Seattle with umbrella users?

And how we talk about it, our brand, our creative brief—
will be about centralizing the messaging of power:
Leading to the single most compelling statement of the uniqueness
for the achievement of objectives: simple sentence, clear command.

THE MECHANISM OF BELIEF

Explaining the how and why of
functional and emotive belief.
For example, these types of layers to “believe in:”
––There’s a story, it’s authentic (years in the making)
––We have the best innovation minds in the business (on the edge)
––Our flavorists have won awards for their new sensations (constantly improving)
––It’s healthy, better for you (proof)
––A perfect solution for relaxation with the perk of renewed energy (inventive convention)

WHAT ELSE TO SUPPORT THE (R)EVOLUTION OF BRANDS
—AND THEIR CREATIVE BRIEFS?

How to sell:
Defining marketing strategy–what are the promotional plans?

Stories in stories:
User anecdotes, verbatims, research reports

What’s happening out there:
Trend commentaries and research

Organized analyses:
Brand bibles–anatomical overviews of the category, state of the art competitive reviews

Find and know the brand crowd:
Market insights

HARD TARGETS—
YOU KNOW ONLY WHAT YOU REALLY KNOW.
NOW.

When I was working in Japan, I went to a Zen compound—Ryōan-ji, Kyōtō.

And there was a garden stone there, it is cylindrical granite and a square engraving with four Japanese characters. There’s a parable there, embedded in each character and its relationship to the central square modifier—which comes out translated as:
“I know only what I know now.”
As a researcher—building a creative strategy, your brief, it should be informed by authentic insights.
Sure, you and your team have your gut instincts, but are they really quantifiable?

Your research process profile might be built
on expectations in written overviews, representational concepts or personality profiling for participants—who they are, and what they believe in? Likely you have your own methodologies—you might use image assemblies and strategic references. Or perhaps anthropological insights, need reviews, onsite interceptions, BASES analysis, at-shelf shopper insights—scoping epiphany and discovery.

THE CRITERIA CHECKLIST

Audience responsiveness: relevant?
Is there a story that compells: resonant?
Will this packaging concept extend: resilient?
Will the Brandcode^® integrate: hybrid media applications?

Surprise at shelf: epiphany?
Fighting the competition: distinction?
Reason to believe: authenticity?

In our definition of creative strategies, developing briefs should be a start to finish explication.
The broader the strategic development, the more robust the tactical foundations to action.

You’ll need a full deck, which we build into our team—developing a broad range of skills. GIRVIN tools in design strategy.

We seek to know the anatomy of the physicality of the brand-identity—to know its body; its landscape.

As with anything creative—this is collaborative.

Explore, sketch, idealize, actualize

For us, we build a charette of exploration, examination and team building—

what we call Brandquest^® — question, understand, explore, strategize, tacticize:

Building the brand reinforced with a Brandquest^®-enabled design strategy essay—a holistically-fulfilled identity.

A summary of conclusions
The human equation is everything (embrace them, know all).
It all begins and ends with them (every brand starts with a human, and serves one).
It’s about fulfillment, engagement, embracement and helping them to live their dreams (a brand relationships can be big as life).
Brand equity is the story (and investment) that’s been told (it’s the genetic DNA of the brand).
Brands will be more than merely taste, color, product or packaging—they are levers back to the central story and they satisfy a deeper psychic space in the minds of the community members.

Think of the creative brief strategy as the foundation to reach into the interpretation of the emotionality of the brand story, syncing with people, empowering the build to community.

The red thread ties the knot.

Tim
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Girvin | Osean

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All imagery by Tim Girvin ©2026